1 guinea

[hmarg06]

Raising keets with chickens causes the guineas to imprint. When they grow up, they lose the ability to understand that chickens are not guineas. Everything can seem fine right up until the first breeding season happens. At that time the guineas do their natural manners which is totally foreign to chickens. Chickens do not speak guinea nor do they understand the physical movements that equate to submission in the guinea language. One of the guinea's favorite pastimes is to attack from behind and pull or break off feathers. This can stress out the chickens very much.

I have raised guinea with chicks and without chicks. Those raised with chicks tormented the chickens unmercifully. Those raised by themselves have nothing to do with the chickens. They keep to themselves and the chickens keep to themselves. I do house my guineas separately but they can free range in the same area at the same time as the chickens and my turkeys do without any of the groups bothering anyone else.

Guineas need much more "personal space" than chickens do. Those that get away with housing chickens and guineas together normally have much more space available per individual bird than most people recommend as the amount of space required for chickens.

I think it works just because I have the space (which is why I specified they need to be able to roam to work), they are basically free range because they hop my fence daily and go do their own thing. The fence is only there to keep coyotes out. When it was just my Guinea Hen Fred and the rest of the flock there were no problems ever, but I think it's because she was a hen. The three males I have are of breeding age and don't bother any of the chickens, again, it's because they basically have free range, and I do have one hen. They were raised with chickens, but don't bother them and go do their own thing during the day. I've been watching my Guinea Hen to make sure they aren't over harassing her, but she seems to be the leader of the group. I have no qualms with eating one or two if they get to big for their britches . It can work, but it's not the easiest thing and you may have to have a backup home for them if it doesn't work out. I don't think it works well if you have much less than an entire yard and/or fields for them to roam if mixing.

 

[hmarg06]

Getting one guinea will not do anything for your tick problem.

I agree with this 100%. Even though I have the four I've gotten 2 ticks in my yard this year, and this is the first time since I've lived there. They are extra bad this year, and one won't solve that problem.

 

[hmarg06]

Raising keets with chickens causes the guineas to imprint. When they grow up, they lose the ability to understand that chickens are not guineas. Everything can seem fine right up until the first breeding season happens. At that time the guineas do their natural manners which is totally foreign to chickens. Chickens do not speak guinea nor do they understand the physical movements that equate to submission in the guinea language. One of the guinea's favorite pastimes is to attack from behind and pull or break off feathers. This can stress out the chickens very much.

Sorry about all these offshoot posts, my mind is all over the place today. This makes so much sense, but for some reason I've never thought about it that way. I think I've preferred to raise them together because when I've introduced, and they hadn't been raised together, there was more fighting and it was more brutal. Maybe in my case it just seemed better since they just go do their own thing regardless, and it helped them to see my shed as home since they already felt part of the flock and that's where they all go at night? Sorry, now I just have lots of thoughts going through my head lol.

 

[R2elk]

I've been watching my Guinea Hen to make sure they aren't over harassing her, but she seems to be the leader of the group.

The male guineas are more likely to harass each other than they are to harass their queen. It is best to have even numbers of the sexes when it comes to guineas. They aren't chickens and will not over mate their hens like a chicken rooster would.

 

[Pekin747]

So what if I got say 3 females at say 4 month old or so more likely to stay with the hens? I dont want to breed them

 

[Maugwa]

So what if I got say 3 females at say 4 month old or so more likely to stay with the hens? I dont want to breed them

I suppose a lot depends on where you live, and what the environment around you is like, or what you consider to be running off is. We had a lot of guineas on a ranch when I was a kid. There were no neighbors or farms or anything for miles, just sagebrush and prairie. Those guineas would get pretty far from the house, corral, barns, etc. further than the chickens ever went, Half a mile or more, but they came back. We kept them around for snakes. When we saw them off like that away from the ranch, most of the time they'd be in a circle harassing a snake. I don't think they kill snakes, they just annoy snakes away, and/or let us know where one was. I don't know how they know, a gene I suppose, but they know how far a rattlesnake can strike, and how to make a circle of noise just outside of striking range - I've never heard of one getting bit.

I'm sure many here have had different results from raising guineas in different circumstances, but what my parents figured for their ranch, when we saw babies, we caught them and raised them in a brooder. My mom always said if she didn't catch the babies, a guinea hen that had a dozen chicks one week, may have eight the next, and four the next, but if mom caught a dozen, they all would make it. She thought the hens were so skittish, quick, and wild, they'd leave some behind. These weren't pets, they were closer to wild birds, and that's how her and her parents had done for many, many years, in the boondocks. Anyway, we raised a lot of keets, usually with chicken chicks in a broader together, and in a pen together until they were 3/4s grown, but when we let them out, they'd self segregate. The chickens would find the other chickens, and the guineas would find the other guineas, and they'd all stay away from each other on their own. We could sometimes get them in the same place tossing feed, but that'd only last till it was gone. At night the chickens all went to the hen house, but the guineas went someplace else, high in a barn if it was real cold, but in trees, or on high corrals most of the time. IDK if they can be made to be friends or not, but I do know they won't just from being raised together on their own if they are not confined together later.